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Donovan Cox Curriculum Vitæ Donovan Cox Curriculum Vitæ Department of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Phone: (413)-230-1754 Nazarbayev University Email: [email protected] 53 Kabanbay Batyr Ave Website: https://storage. Nur-Sultan googleapis.com/teachingwebsite/ Republic of Kazakhstan 010000 index.html Education Ph.D. Philosophy 2020 The University of Massachusetts, Amherst M.A. Philosophy 2004 The University of Connecticut B.A. Philosophy and English 1999 The University of Georgia Academic Areas Specialization: Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy. Teaching Competence: Modern, Ethics, Episte- mology, Phil. Religion, Bioethics, Social/Political. Academic Appointments Nazarbayev University Instructor in Philosophy (Full-time, Non-Tenure-Track) Present University of Hartford Visiting Faculty in Philosophy (Full-Time, Non-Tenure-Track) 2017 – 2019 Loomis Chaffee School Faculty in Department of Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies 2013 – 2015 University of Hartford Adjunct Faculty 2012 – 2015 2019 – 2020 Articles • “Leibniz on Divine Causation” in Studia Leibnitiana 34/2 (2002), pp. 186-207. Works in Progress • “The Anomaly of the Last Elenchos of Plato’s Euthyphro” (under review). • “Socratic Reciprocity: Collective Self-Improvement through Rational Inquiry.” • “Esteem, Honor, and the Folly of Commemorating Whole Persons.” • “Reciprocity and Moral Internalism.” Presentations • “The Anomaly of the Last Elenchos of Plato’s Euthyphro.” Central APA Colloquium, Feb. 24, 2021. • “Explanatory Failure and Moral Failings at the End of Euthyphro.” UHart Interdepartmental Colloquium (10/03/19). • “Why Does Socrates (Sometimes) Think Virtue Can’t Be Taught?” UHart Interdepartmental Colloquium (10/11/18). • “Socratic Piety, Reciprocity, and Service”. Invited Talk at Manhattan College (03/01/18). Awards and Prizes Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award for Part-Time Faculty 2020 University of Hartford Critical Thinking Fellowship 2018 – 19 University of Hartford College of Arts and Sciences Robison Prize for Excellence in Teaching 2009 University of Massachusetts, Amherst Philosophy Dept. Courses Taught University of Hartford • Introduction to the History of Western Philosophy • Classical American Philosophy • Philosophical Writing • Philosophy of Language • Rationalists and Empiricists • Art and Thought of Classical Greece • Practical Reasoning and Critical Thinking • Western Heritage: Humanities Loomis Chaffee School • Intro to Philosophy • Existentialism • Ancient Philosophy • Myth, Dream, and Ritual • Theory of Knowledge • Death and Dying University of Massachusetts, Amherst • Intro Philosophy, Honors • Medical Ethics • Ancient Philosophy • Problems in Social Thought • Philosophy of Art • Intro to Ethics • Existentialism Languages Ancient Greek (advanced reading), German (reading competence). Dissertation Title: Socratic Piety, Reciprocity, and the Last Elenchos of Plato’s Euthyphro. Committee: Vanessa de Harven (chair), Ernesto Garcia, Jyl Gentzler (Amherst College), Melissa Mueller (Classics Dept.) Dissertation Summary: My dissertation, Socratic Piety, Reciprocity, and the Last Elenchos of Plato’s Euthyphro, offers a new reading of the end of Plato’s Euthyphro. Euthyphro’s last attempt to define piety is to say that it is what is pleasing to the gods in prayer and sacrifice, offered so as to oblige the gods to return reciprocal benefits. Traditional scholarship on the passage makes two mistakes: (i) it takes Socrates’ comparison of Euthyphro’s model of piety to commerce to be the principal criticism of the model; (ii) it attaches little or no philosophical significance to Socrates’ reduction of Euthyphro’s last definition to his third, already rejected definition, that piety iswhat dear to the gods. I argue that the logic and grammar of the passage do not support the reading described in (i), but instead support an alternative reading that allows us to see that there is a substantial philosophical reason Plato wanted to link the last and third definitions in closing the dialogue. That reason is that the same explanatory failure characterizing Euthyphro’s third voluntaristic definition of piety also characterizes the contractual modelof exchange represented by his last definition. This new analysis of the dialogue has the additional benefit ofallowing for a fresh take on Socratic piety – often thought to be conducting rational inquiry toward the end of moral self- improvement – centering on the notion of Socratic reciprocity, defined by contrast with Euthyphronic exchange. My account of Socratic piety emphasizes its communal aspect: rational inquiry is best carried out in a community of inquirers reciprocally benefiting one another by acting as teachers and learners byturns. Service • University of Hartford, Internship Coordinator for • University of Massachusetts, Amherst, graduate Philosophy Major Interns, 2018-2019. student conference co-organizer, April, 2014. • Loomis Chaffee School, academic advising, • Construct and maintain website and database of 2014-2015. collected works for Lynne Rudder Baker, • Loomis Chaffee School, dormitory supervision, 2011-present. 2014-2015. References Teaching References: Dissertation Committee Members: • Rochelle DuFord Philosophy, UHart • Vanessa de Harven Philosophy, UMass, Amherst [email protected] Committee Chair 860-768-4606 [email protected] • Donald Jones English and Modern Lan- • Ernesto Garcia Philosophy, UMass, Amherst guages, UHart [email protected] Honors Program Director • Jyl Gentzler Philosophy, Amherst College [email protected] [email protected] 860-768-4751 413-542-5806 • Dennis Robbins Faculty, Loomis Chaffee School • Melissa Mueller Classics, UMass, Amherst [email protected] [email protected] 860-687-6122 413-545-5776 • Curt Robison Faculty, Loomis Chaffee School [email protected] 860-687-6374 • Brian Skelly Philosophy, UHart [email protected] 860-768-4538 Others: • Donald Baxter Philosophy, UConn • Gary Hardegree Philosophy, UMass, Amherst [email protected] [email protected] 860-486-4419 • Hilary Kornblith Philosophy, UMass, Amherst • JC Beall Philosophy, UConn [email protected] [email protected] 413-545-5787 860-486-3775 Graduate Coursework University of Massachusetts, Amherst, selected: University of Connecticut, Storrs, selected: • Philosophy of Mathematics (Bricker) • Seminar on Hume (Baxter) • Problems in History of Philosophy: Leibniz (Sleigh) • Independent Study: Leibniz (Baxter) • Plato: Epistemology (Matthews) • Philosophy of Mind (Millikan) • Aristotle’s Metaphysics (Perin) • Philosophy of Perception (Clark) • Problems in History of Philosophy: Ancient • Philosophy of Language (Beall) Scepticism (Perin) • Truth and Paradox (Beall) • Math Logic 1 (Klement) • Independent Study: Set Theory (Beall) • Aristotle’s Ethics (Matthews) • Philosophical Logic (Beall) • Metaphysics (Baker) • Metaphysics (Baxter) • Selected Philosopher: Descartes (Chappell) • Contemporary Analytic Philosophy (Hiskes) • Modal Logic (Hardegree) • Seminar on Ethics (Kupperman) • Aesthetics (Zangwill, visiting).
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